Car crashes into memorial for fallen officer Sean Collier at MIT

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - A car crashed into a memorial for fallen police officer Sean Collier at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thursday morning.

A 52-year-old driver hit the memorial and also took down a tree just after 12:30 a.m. at the intersection of Main and Vassar streets, according to Cambridge police. He was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The car left a large mark on one of the granite blocks that make up the memorial, which pays tribute to the 27-year-old officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2013. Collier was shot multiple times in a late-night confrontation with the Tsarnaev brothers while patrolling the MIT campus days after the Boston Marathon bombings.

MIT police chief John DiFava got a call at home alerting him of the crash. He said his initial thought was “please don’t let it be damaged too badly.”

“This is a significant piece of the community at MIT, not just the MIT Police Department, but the MIT community in general,” he said. “When Sean was murdered, the support that we got was just remarkable and it continues to this day.”

The Sean Collier Memorial Fund added that some repairs are needed but they are thankful no pedestrians were hit.

“We have been told that there doesn’t appear to be any structural damage to the memorial though some repairs will be needed,” the fund said in a statement. “We are grateful that no pedestrians were injured in this accident.”

The cause of the crash is under investigation; however, police said alcohol and drugs do not appear to be a factor.

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